Omniglot - the online encyclopedia of writing systems & languages

Dungan (хуэйзў йүян)

Dungan is a variety of Chinese spoken in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and
Uzbekistan. There are approximately 50,000 speakers. The native name
for the language is Хуэйзў
йүян, which means 'language of the Hui'.
In Chinese it is known as 东干语 (dōnggānyǔ).

There are two main dialects of Dungan: one with four tones which
originates in Shaanxi province in China, and one with three tones,
which serves as the standard form of the language and comes from
the Chinese province of Gansu. Speakers of Dungan fled from Manchu
and Chinese persecution over a hundred years ago after an abortive
rebellion.

Dungan was originally written with a version of the Arabic alphabet.
Between 1928 and 1953 it was written with the Latin alphabet. Since 1953
it has been written with a version of the Cyrillic alphabet. The method
of writing Dungan with the Cyrillic alphabet was devised at a conference
on May 27, 1953 in Frunze, Kirghizia.

Cyrillic alphabet for Dungan

Notes

Dungan's three tones are not normally indicated in writing, except in
children's primers and dictionaries, where the tones are marked either
ма, маъ, маь or
ма I, ма II, ма III.